Voters have taken to social media to boast about spoiling their ballot papers in protest at Brexit and the mainstream political parties.

Thousands of people took to polling booths purely to spoil their papers, with many claiming they were fed up with the lack of progress over Brexit and the performance of current parties.

Despite this not everyone has been impressed with the mass spoiling stunt.

While it isn't illegal to spoil your ballot paper, deliberately filling in the ballot incorrectly or defacing it with graffiti will render it invalid.

Nevertheless officials will still count slips along with the other votes and recorded them the official election results.

In the 2015 General Election, the UK total of 'rejected' or 'spoilt' votes was almost 100k.

It's not yet known whether the number of spoilt papers from this year's local election will exceed this number - but returning officers around the England last night were reporting high numbers of rejected votes.

And throughout the day social media users took to Twitter and Facebook to show their defaced ballot papers and vent their frustrations.

Former TV reality star Katie Hopkins had urged voters to spoil their papers and shared pictures of their messed up votes on Twitter.

Some said they were forced into the drastic action because of a genuine lack of interest in listed candidates while others said they had set out to deliberately spoil their ballot paper.

It is not against the law to spoil your ballot paper but deliberately filling in the ballot incorrectly will render it invalid, although the paper will still be counted along with the other votes.

The number of spoiled ballots is announced in the election results, and are a way of showing up to vote but making your feelings known in a different way.

In the 2015 General Election, the UK total of 'rejected' or 'spoilt' votes was almost 100k.

Social media users took to Twitter and Facebook to boast about spoiling their ballot papers in the local elections but were met with criticism by people who had registered a genuine vote.

Former TV reality star Katie Hopkins had urged voters to spoil their papers and shared pictures of their messed up votes on Twitter.

She told her followers: "Why not make the life of the poor sod who has to sit in some miserable hall counting these, make their life a little bit brighter.

"Why not take your colouring pens along and get artistic with your voting card.

"Spoiling your ballot sends a clear message you will not tolerate these incompetents anymore. You will not participate in a system where you're represented by people who frankly don't give a s**t about you, your children or the things you need."

Some voters, mainly pro-Brexiters, were particularly creative in spoiling their paper and tweeted pictures of their offending "non-vote."

Some angry voters scribbled anti-May statements across the papers, labelling the mainstream parties as 'traitors'.

One polling card from South Somerset District Council said: "Get May out".

Some voters however said a spoilt paper was a waste of a vote and advised people against the idea.

jem jems lamentedon Twitter: "On my way to spoil my ballot . Gutted, truly gutted i'am having to do this. Dont know what I will write till I get there so.....see you on the other side.

NoDeal4Real tweeted: I'm not buying into this spoil your ballot idea, like the liblabcon Ive no faith that its going to make a real difference. I have voted for the lesser of whats on offer today, at least i know it'll be counted.

While mooshLive warned his followers: Seriously, if you are going to spoil your ballot , dont go vote. It's stupid + pointless. Spend time playing Super Mario or something all day.

While spoiling your ballot paper is not illegal, anyone choosing to take a sneaky snap of their ballot paper is potentially at risk of getting in trouble.

The Electoral Commission recommends that returning officers don't allow photography within polling stations. This is because of the secrecy requirements set out in section 66 of the Representation of the People Act.